The new prostitution-related offences are intended to reduce demand for sexual services and shield those who sell such services from exploitation, as well as help children and communities, the government says.

The bill would create new offences for:

The purchase of sexual services and communicating in any place for that purpose.

Receiving a financial or material benefit from the prostitution of others, including through businesses that sell the sexual services of others online or from venues such as escort agencies, massage parlours or strip clubs.

Advertising the sale of sexual services in print media or on the Internet.

Communicating for the purpose of selling sexual services in public places where a child could reasonably be expected to be present.

MacKay made it clear the Conservatives see the vast majority of those who sell their bodies as victims forced into the trade due to violence, addiction, extortion, intimidation, poverty or human trafficking.

The government is devoting $20 million to helping them leave the business, and pledges to work with provinces and territories toward that goal.

“We’re attempting to thread the needle on a very complex social issue. If there was a black-and-white simple answer after thousands of years, I think it would have been discovered,” MacKay told a news conference.

“We’re attempting this in good faith. And we believe that this will be effective.”

The legislation is the government’s response to a Supreme Court of Canada decision in December that struck down key provisions of the country’s prostitution laws. The court was concerned the provisions unduly increased the risk to sex workers, violating their constitutional rights.

While the court ruled the laws were unconstitutional, it gave the government a year to replace them.

Under the old laws, prostitution itself was legal but almost all related activities — including communicating in a public place for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and running a brothel — were criminal offences.

“It is important to note that the purchase and sale of sex has never been illegal in Canada. That changes today,” MacKay said.

“We are targeting johns and pimps, those that treat sex services as a commodity.”

One coalition representing sex workers denounced the new measures.

“Frankly, this response is heartbreaking,” said Emily Symons, who chairs the board of Power, a non-profit, organization open to former or current members of the sex trade.

“The minister had an opportunity to work with sex workers and other concerned parties to develop a solution that supports the safety and human rights of sex workers. Instead, he has chosen to import an approach that will reproduce the harms of the current prostitution laws and won’t stand up to a constitutional challenge.”